Here he is, Mr. Lee Monroe Presnell, whose thoughtful face gazes from the back cover of the liner notes for volume 1 of the Warner Collection of folksongs ("Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still")


Used with permission of Appleseed Recordings

He's featured on both the first volume and the second volume ( "Nothing Seems Better To Me" of the Warner Collection, and his songs are real highlights. It's not surprising that his are among the ones that Tim Eriksen and Cordelia's Dad covered most frequently (for example, "Farewell to Old Bedford," about which the Warners say, "We have not found reference to this [song] elsewhere" ). There many many more of his that I'd be quite happy if Tim would cover--like "Sometimes in This Country" (no. 41 on Vol. 1).

Lee Monroe Presnell sings really clearly and powerfully and full of emotion, and the tunes are complex. The liner notes put it well: "We are accustomed to looking at photographs of people born before Washington died, but we are not used to hearing their voices. There was a courtliness to the man that belies any stereotypes of what a mountain man might be."

Frank Proffitt (who has a winning name) is featured extensively on the second volume, but on the first as well. He sings "Little Maggie" (no. 55 on Vol. 1), which I'd like to learn, and "Ground Hog" (no. 27 on Vol. 2) that I knew first from a lovely collection of traditional children's songs called "Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts," sung by a remarkable man named Sam Hinton.

It seems like the majority of the songs are recorded in North Carolina, but there are some from elsewhere, including some from "Yankee" John Galusha. One he sings is "Springfield Mountain" (no. 21 on Vol. 1) about a poisonous snake biting a man in Western Massachusetts in 1761. Apparently that song became a popular--and humorous--minstrel tune in the 1830s, but "Yankee" John Galusha sings a serious version of the story, which, the liner notes tell me, "takes us back to the 18th century way of singing the tale."

One thing I really love about folksongs is how a woman can sing a song from a man's perspective or a man can sing a song from a woman's perspective--really you're free to sing anything. I did, though, pay some attention to the women singers just because it might be easier for me to imitate them. Eleazar Tillet was one of the women singers whom I really liked. She sang "Fisherman's Girl" (no. 31 on Vol. 2) with Martha Etheridge, to a tune I think I recognize as a hymn tune. I'd like to try that. She also sang "Jolly Thrasher [Thresher]," (no. 23 on Vol. 1), which the liner notes say "is sung by the Copper family in Sussex, England, as 'The Honest Labourer.'" I'd like to try that one, one day, too.

The collection also features snippets of conversations with the singers--including, for instance, Rebecca King Jones talking about being embarrassed the first time boys tried to walk home with her from church (= courting her). She says at the time she thought they should go court someone who had shoes on (she was barefoot). She's laughing as she tells the story. It conjures up the place and time--for a minute you're there with her. (She sings a version of "Barbara Allen.")

Other interesting pieces included a Mohawk war chant, recorded from Mohawk Indians (no. 27, Vol. 1), "Drunkard's Doom" (no. 8, Vol. 2), and "Palms of Victory" (no. 56, Vol. 1), which has a very shape-note feel to it.

As I mentioned last entry, the liner notes come with a bibliography, and they discuss each song, talk about the singers, talk about the Warners--Anne and Frank Warner, who collected the songs--and include photos from the 1930s through the 1950s (wonderful photos, like the one up above). It's a marvelous, marvelous collection; I recommend it to anyone who likes traditional music... though I feel like a fraud making a recommendation when I myself only found out about the collection a few months ago and am only just dipping my toes in the waters of all this folk music stuff.

Still. A marvelous collection, not just for a newbie like me but for anyone.